Recount gives NDP 59th seat in Quebec

MONTREAL — A judicial recount in a Quebec riding has given the NDP their 59th seat in Quebec, while reducing Conservative party holdings in the province to five.

The recount for the riding of Montmagny-L’Islet-Kamouraska-Riviere-du-Loup, completed Friday, confirmed the New Democratic Party’s Francois Lapointe won by nine votes over incumbent Conservative Bernard Genereux.

The recount, performed by Justice Gilles Blanchet of Quebec Superior Court, gave both men about 36 per cent of the 45,545 valid ballots cast — Lapointe with 17,285 votes to Genereux’s 17,276.

Preliminary results on election night gave Genereux a lead of 110 votes, but a tabulation error erroneously awarded about 100 NDP votes to the Green Party candidate. A retabulation ended with Lapointe leading by five votes (17,278 to 17,273), prompting an automatic recount.

“I have just been a witness to a formidably intense democratic exercise; respect for our institutions, admiration for my fellow citizens,” Lapointe posted on Twitter Saturday.

Genereux was elected to the House of Commons in a byelection in November 2009, replacing the Bloc’s Paul Crete, who resigned to run for the Parti Quebecois in a provincial byelection.

The win gives the NDP 59 of 75 seats in Quebec, and 103 nationwide.

The Conservatives drop to five seats in Quebec and 166 across Canada.

The Liberals have seven seats in Quebec (all on the island of Montreal), and the Bloc Quebecois remain at four.